With 20 Democratic presidential hopefuls flocking to Detroit for the second round of debates this week, so too is Trump's campaign. And the president's team is banking on economic improvements in the Great Lakes State to help him bring another victory in 2020.
"The economy in Michigan is doing great," Marc Lotter, director of strategic communications for Trump 2020, told Cheddar on Tuesday. "Over 100,000 jobs have been added since the president took office, 27,000 jobs in manufacturing alone."
He added that the campaign needs to continue pushing their message out. Thus far in the campaign run — at rallies and on Twitter — Trump has stuck with fairly similar talking points: hard on immigration, tough on China, and boosting job growth. The message stays the same in Michigan.
"One of the easiest things is we now have a record to run on," Lotter said.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to rethink the NAFTA trade deal. To that end, last November, Trump, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, and Mexico's then-President Enrique Peña Nieto signed the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), which still awaits ratification by their respective governments.
Lotter said NAFTA had "eviscerated" Michigan, adding "Their [former] Democratic governor [Jennifer Granholm] said that NAFTA gave Michigan the 'shafta.' It was a long time ago, but it's so true."
Of course, Democrats disagree about the president's success. On Monday, Lavora Barnes, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, told Cheddar that she hopes the Democratic candidates share their thoughts on the president's record during the second round of debates.
"What I want to hear them talk about are all the things that Donald Trump has done to either lie, or to pull back on promises he made to people," Barnes said.
This week, General Motors' 78-year-old transmission plan in Warren, Michigan will halt production. It is one of five plants that will be closed in North America after GM announced that it would suspend operations in an effort to reshape its business model, and move into the electric phase. Nearly 6,700 jobs will be implicated as a result of these closures.
Nevertheless, Lotter stays focused on the positive. In February, Fiat Chrysler announced it would spend $4.5 billion to expand factory production in the state, including a new Jeep assembly plant in Detroit, adding a total of 6,500 jobs.
"Those are the kinds of victories that the people of Michigan want to see, other states are going to want to repeat it, and that's why I think President Trump is going to be re-elected."
Many U.S. consumers say they’ve noticed higher than usual prices for holiday gifts in recent months, according to a a December poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. A contributing factor is the unusually high import taxes the Trump administration put on foreign goods. While the worst-case consumer impact that many economists foresaw from the administration’s trade policies hasn’t materialized, some popular gift items have been affected more than others. Most toys and electronics sold in the U.S. come from China. So do most holiday decorations. Jewelry prices have risen due to the cost of gold.
Serbia’s prosecutor for organized crime has charged a government minister and three others with abuse of position and falsifying of documents related to a luxury real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The charges came on Monday. The investigation centers on a controversy over a a bombed-out military complex in central Belgrade that was a protected cultural heritage zone but that is facing redevelopment as a luxury compound by a company linked to Kushner. The $500 million proposal to build a high-rise hotel, offices and shops at the site has met fierce opposition from experts at home and abroad. Selakovic and others allegedly illegally lifted the protection status for the site by falsifying documentation.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to block states from regulating artificial intelligence. He argues that heavy regulations could stifle the industry, especially given competition from China. Trump says the U.S. needs a unified approach to AI regulation to avoid complications from state-by-state rules. The order directs the administration to draw up a list of problematic regulations for the Attorney General to challenge. States with laws could lose access to broadband funding, according to the text of the order. Some states have already passed AI laws focusing on transparency and limiting data collection.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
House Republicans in key battleground districts are working to contain the political fallout expected when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act. For a critical sliver of the GOP majority, the impending expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits after Dec. 31 could be a major political liability as they potentially face midterm headwinds in a 2026 election critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda. For Democrats, the party’s strategy for capturing the House majority revolves around pinning higher bills for groceries, health insurance and utilities on Republicans.
